Alpacas at Windy Hill Welcomes FFA & New Baby Girls
Journal Entry 27, 7/21/2022
When I arrived for my weekly volunteer day, Cindy, owner of Alpacas at Windy Hill was 30 minutes into teaching a hands-on fiber class to several El Tejon Middle school teachers (& the principal!). As they hand-pin-felted, they kept coming up with ideas for using the alpaca fiber felting for a variety of fundraiser options - felted soap scrubbers, felted pins, & more.
Since Covid, these ambitious educators have implemented what sounds like a robust FFA-based program & curriculum from scratch & in astonishingly short order! (FFA=Future Farmers of America.) The El Tejon Middle School FFA program started after last year's Ventura Farm Day, which included a visit to Alpacas at Windy Hill (a part of the Open Farm Tours part of the event). The school promptly bought two alpacas from Windy Hill giving the kids hands-on animal management skills & access to fiber processing (from shearing to turning raw fiber into yarn, felt & other products! So far, the kids have built & planted raised garden beds, they raise rabbits, turkeys, ducks, & chickens, harvesting the chicken eggs. Fleece from alpacas is used by the sewing/fiber arts club. The garden produce & eggs are used in cooking classes. Eventually some of the rabbits, ducks, turkeys & chickens are butchered (taught by local butcher) & also used in cooking class. Chicken poop goes into the compost, alpaca poop goes into the garden soil. And the kids maintain it all. What a great program!
I asked the educators a bit more about the kids & the El Tejon middle school's demographics.
Out of 200 kids in school 110 wanted to take the FFA elective, but sadly only are 26 allowed each year.
The school is in Lebec, CA, an unincorporated community just before the I-5 grapevine in southern California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,468. With soaring real estate values, many of the landlords owning rentals have sold the rental properties, pushing the renters out of the market. This has led to many extended families doubling & tripling up per physical property. I was told because of this, almost half of the kids attending El Tejon are now categorized as "homeless." What a cruel culture we've created. Did any of us really want this or see it coming?
Nonetheless, I'm planning a visit to El Tejon Middle School after school starts in September to learn more about their FFA program firsthand. Because I hadn't heard much about FFA in decades, I was curious about the current state of the organization. Here's the current FFA Vision: Agricultural Education envisions a world where ALL people value and understand the vital role of agriculture, food, fiber and natural resource systems in advancing personal and global well-being. What a clear, cogent, & healthy vision. After spending my entire adult life in white collar, corporate environments, I've never seen a corporation (or business school, or Better Business Bureau, or business networking orgs, etc.) state anything close to "a world where its education envisions a world where ALL people value & understand the role of this corporation/this business org's products, services & systems in advancing personal & global well-being." What a contrast.
I love this! It’s such a shame the program only accommodates 26 students at a time. I wish there was a program for adults, as we may all need to acquire these skills in the not too distant future. Thanks for sharing Bev-Sue! And please keep me posted when you’re ready for a camera to tag along on your adventures:)